When I saw Secrets of the Ark on the shelf at my local store and read the back of the box, I thought this sounded like a good one. One of the phrases on the back of the game box that caught my eye was something along the lines of, "...logical, solvable puzzles".

I realize there's more than ones school-of-thought on adventure game puzzles. You know how there's those sorts of puzzles in some adventure games where you have to combine some really outlandish, bizarre items in your inventory? (It's almost like you have to read the game writers/ developers' mind to solve some of these obscure puzzles.) And then there's those types of games that are more along the lines of, That makes sense. These things are not a matter of "right or wrong", more a matter of preference. I tend to lean more towards the logical. This games' puzzles don't always put me in mind of that quote on the box of "logical/ solvable". That one puzzle of putting a cockroach on the clock to get the hotel manager out of the office? Yeah! That made sense!!

I think the quote on the back of the box is mis-leading (granted: this is just my opinion). Another thing I did not notice (as they say, read the "fine print".): There's a subtitle underneath the title of Secrets of the Ark, and it's, A Broken Sword Game.

I've never played a Broken Sword Game. Yes, of course, I've heard OF them through the years, but nothing about them has ever drawn me to one. Back in the '90's, I was actually a fan of the FMV games (remember Gabriel Knight II: The Beast Within? The Phantasmagoria games?). The Broken Sword games appeared too "cartoon-ish" to me. I've played many animated games since then, but what I consider sophisticated graphics (I even play some horror survival games, like the Silent Hill series). This latest Broken Sword game, evidentially, is the first one in 3D. I've tried both keyboard and mouse clicks to move the character, but don't particularly like either; movement is awkward and jerky.

I read Gremlin's review here on this site, and there are some things I quite agree with: you can't "click through/ escape" dialogue. AND.......George Stobbart. This guy gets on my nerves.

Whether it's a novel, movie, or a game, I like off-beat, interesting characters, and this can even be the "lead" character. There's even the "flawed" character, or the "anti-hero" can be quite intriguing. Gremlin refers to him as "smug"; he's ingratiating to me also. It's tough to warm up to a game where you don't even particularly care for the lead character. It's going to be quite an effort to get through this one. Can't win 'em all, eh?

I am currently playing the game after getting the N.American release a couple of days ago. I am at the meat factory part but yeah there are some illogical things which i found them accidentally or after a lot of thinking and clicking around. But i am enjoying it so far. We'll see how it goes.

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"Cannot The Kingdom Of Salvation Take Me Home?"

I have the new game and am looking forward to playing it, I love George and Nico. I did not play the last game because you had to use your keypad and I prefer point and click. If anyone is unsure, have never played them, get the first one, it's a hoot and I still have the first and second and will keep them.

I just bought the game today from Best Buy. I remember that you guys said it was a point and click so I thought I might like it. I am going to load it up and see what i think. It is strange how a game that lots of us Gameboomers love will not seem so good to other Gameboomers. For instance for some reason I am not quite getting into Runaway 2. I played through to the third chapter and I am not quite loving it the way I loved the 1st Runaway. So I will play my very first Broken Swords game and go back to Runaway 2 some other time.